Category Archives: Easter Island & Robinson Crusoe

Musket Cove Regatta Week 2025

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It’s that time of year again – the Musket Cove Regatta Week!  We had so much fun in 2022 racing on “Wow” and again in 2023″ racing on “Wings.”  This year we will be racing on a beautiful SVD60 (Simons Voogd) designed 60′ catamaran called “Marcato”.

Matt and I both admired this boat in the earlier regattas.  It has stunning lines, clean look, and wicked fast reputation.  The owners Anthony (Ant) and Janine Robinson were kind enough to let Matt and I crew with on this year’s Musket Cove Regatta!

Be sure to read about our 2023 and 2022 adventures of the Musket Cove Regatta.  Simply type in “Musket Cove” in the search bar or click here.

Ant and Janine invited several of their friends to help manage this incredibly fast rocket.

But, mostly Ant was at the helm, Phil and Janine worked the main sheet and headsails, Chris, Matt and I (mostly Chris and Matt) were on deck handling the sail changes.

During the longest race, around the Malolo Island we had at least 8 sail changes!

The first day of the regatta is kicked off with hobie cat races.  Matt and Chris (from SeaGlub) join together to be team SugarGlub.

The easily win their first heat despite the light winds.

Unfortunately, they lost their second heat during single eliminations.  But they had great fun!

Beachcomber’s Pirate Day

Day 2 brings Beachcomber Island’s Pirate day!  

Anything goes during this race!  That means that boats can use their engines, sails, and whatever means necessary to get to the anchorage first.

Marcato started off slow (captain’s choice) and crossed the start in 11th place.  Never good when you take photos with boats in front of you. By the end of the race we were catching up to the 1st place boat.  Unfortunately, this boat displayed really poor sportsmanship and refused to let us pass and pushed off off the course. 

True that anything goes, but this was beyond rude. 

Beachcomber Island Resort really knows how to host an authentic pirate party.  Yachties are captured, and tied together as they step foot on shore.  The pirates then walk them across hot coals at knife point and into the vaccine tent for a retched shot of rum.

We did win 2nd place and I won sexiest pirate 🙂

Around the Island Race

There are 3 sailboat races during Musket Cove Regatta week.

  1. Beachcombers Pirate Day
  2. Around the Island
  3. Sandbank Race

The around the island is by far the most prestigious race.  Racers have to navigate around reefs, corals, and more as they sail around Malolo hitting almost every point of sail.

We had over 9 sail changes during this race (which is a LOT).

We had a great start and managed to stay in the top 3 for the majority of the race. During the last 1/4 of the race we edged in front of both the 1st and 2nd boats.  As we neared the finish line, with a mere 100 meters to go the wind died to zero (see photo).  The good news it died for everyone.  After a painstaking 45 minutes, it picked up and we crossed the finish line first doing a whopping 3kts!

Super Hero / Villain Party

Besides having an amazing boat, Ant and Janine are great party planners.  They went all out on the costume party.  We were Gru and his minions complete with a “moon” strategically placed in the rafters of the bar.

We won first place!

The Sandbank Race

This is an interesting race as the racers follow the committee boat with a marker. 

The committee boat does not drop the marker until it deems it prudent. The racers never know where the marker will be dropped.

Marcato came in 3rd during this race.

All in all the Marcato crew came away with lots of prizes and wins.

  • 2nd place Beachcomber Island Pirate Race
  • 1st place Around the Island race
  • 3rd place Sandbank race
  • 1st place Superhero costume contest
  • 1st place sexiest pirate

We sailed in the Musket Cove Regatta 2025 in mid-September.

Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind actual live events.

Don’t miss out on our bushwhack hike along the ridgeline of Malolo Island.

Mother Nature Surprises Us

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When you live on a boat, you have to have a high level of respect for Mother Nature.  She can deliver some of the most breathtaking and inspiring views while at the same time sending dangerous and frightening weather.  The anchorage presented us with many gorgeous sunsets

Sunsets at Easter Island

Sunsets at Easter Island

After the 2nd night, we woke up to really rolly and uncomfortable conditions.  We were still at anchor, but it was awful.  The supply ship had already left, but the National Geographic ship was loading passengers (or at least trying).  The port captain hailed each of the 10 sailboats on the VHF.  They told us that the port would be closed for several days and that we should evacuate the anchorage.  What?  Crap!

Changing Anchorages to VinaPu

We all slowly made our way around the island to a more protected anchorage.  The only problem with the new anchorage is that there is no easy way to get to shore.  Shoot, there goes our island tour.

Not a particularly pretty anchorage either.  This is where the fuel container ship comes to provide fuel to the island.  So, we looked at huge fuel tanks on shore.  We stayed here overnight and decided we needed to go ashore the next day.  Lots to do: provision, get gasoline, and clear out of the country as our visas were expiring.  We found a semi protected area near a platform with a ladder.  We tossed out a stern anchor and crawled our way to shore.  Managing to stay mostly dry.

Luckily, we were able to get everything done that we needed.  But, because the port was closed and access to shore was challenging, we decided to leave a day early.  Much to my disappointment.  We did not get to see the largest MOAI or the largest grouping of MOAI (15).  But what we did see, we loved.  This is a spectacular island!

MOAI on Easter Island

The Moai of Easter Island

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The moai are a mystery because there are so many different variations to their origins and the reasoning behind their creation, location, and destruction.  Many stories mention dissent among the people, lots of fighting and a very disruptive society.

However, based on a new study, the history has proven to be very different. This study painted a new picture of a new sophisticate and collaborative society based on excavations  four of the statues and the volcanic stone basalt tools used to carve them.  It is now believed that the full body, 13-ton monuments represent important Rapa Nui ancestors.  There are over 900 statues, many buried up to their heads due to the passage of time.  The largest statue is over 70’ tall.  Just admiring the sheer size and number is indicative of a complex, sophisticated society.

Ancient Rapa Nui had chiefs, priests, and guilds of workers who fished, farmed, and made the moai. There was a certain level of sociopolitical organization that was needed to carve almost a thousand statues.

Rapa Nui’s mysterious statues stand in silence but speak volumes about the achievements of their creators. The stone blocks carved into head-and-torso figures, average 13 feet (4 meters) tall and 14 tons. The effort to construct these monuments and move them around the island must have been considerable.  Even though, most scholars now suspect that they were created to honor important personages, it’s impossible to be certain.  Primarily because there is no written and little oral history exists on the island, so it’s impossible to be certain.

How did they build and move these giant monuments?

  1. The MOAI was outlined on the rock, a slow chiseling process.
  2. From the outline, they carved the MOAI out of the rock. The left a “heal” on its back, keeping a connection to the bed-rock.
  3. The keel is removed, and the MOAI is slid down the slope using a multitude of round trees or rocks.
  4. The MOAI is then placed in a pt so that the carving of its back can be finished.
MOAI Carving from Museum

MOAI Carving from Museum

We visited the MAPSE Museo Rapanui museum which was free and fairly easy to find.  They had pieces of MOAI along with ancient artifacts.  We discovered that of the hundreds of MOAI, less than 10 were female.  One of the female MOAI is at the museum (top right photos)

Museum Photos

Museum Photos

With so many MOAI to see it will be hard to get it all in during our short stay, but I promise you we will try!